Drew Barrymore could be next in line to don the Barbarella costume made famous by Jane Fonda.
Hollywood daily newspaper Variety reported Tuesday that Barrymore "has long been interested" in starring in an update of the aggressively French science-fiction classic and is negotiating through her Flower Films production company to not only star but co-produce a planned remake.
Warner Brothers, which recently acquired the remake rights to the property, has not announced any firm casting decisions as yet.
However, the studio has tapped three producers to steer the project, including nostalgia baron Ben Myron, who produced such 1960s-era remakes as "Leave it to Beaver", "Mr. Magoo" and the ill-fated "Mod Squad".
If Myron's role as co-producer of "Showgirls" is any guide, the new "Barbarella" is likely to maintain the campy sensibilities of the original film. On the other hand, Variety reports that the remake "will drop the camp factor and stay faithful to the edgy comic strip" created by late French cartoonist Jean-Claude Forest.
The original "Barbarella", starring Jane Fonda and directed by then-husband Roger Vadim, was made in 1968 under the aegis of Dino de Laurentis. The film followed the adventures -- erotic, humorous and otherwise -- of the title character, a beautiful astronaut and sometime enforcer of the pacifist government of 41st-Century Earth.
Although the film opened the door for European sensibilities in mainstream SF cinema, making such French-influenced films as "Alien", "Aliens: Resurrection" and "The Fifth Element" possible, "Barbarella" is now viewed as something of an embarrassing artifact of the 1960s. Plans for an animated series several years ago never gathered much steam, leaving the property effectively dormant until the Warner news.
Fans of the original film have been relentless in their pleas for a remake, staging a general write-in campaign and suggesting such genre favorites as Star Trek: Voyager's
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